GARANGO, Burkina Faso, March 31 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Sitting under the shade of a tree, a group of women drink traditional beer to escape the searing 40-degree-Celsius heat.

Perched on a massive tricycle, one woman passes a wooden bowl full of beer to her neighbour, whose eyes are closed. The 30 women gathered in this town of central Burkina Faso are all blind, paralysed or suffer from epilepsy.